Anniversary
by Queequegg
Summary: An anniversary should be a time to celebrate, a time to remember. So why is that Auggie seems to be avoiding everyone? Something was wrong and Annie's determined to find out what it is.  non-established  Annie/Auggie
1. Chapter 1

_Anniversary_

* * *

Annie stowed away her tray and put her seat back in the upright position to prepare for landing. She sighed aloud and closed her eyes as she leaned back in her seat. It had been a very long day and her adrenaline and caffeine were running out.

Her mission had been a success and it had gone relatively smooth, especially for her. The brush pass had gone down and whatever top-secret information she had been transporting had made it's way to the appropriate hands. And now, more then 20 hours since she had last slept, she was completing the final leg of her journey as the plane touched down in D.C..

Slowly, the plane taxied to the gate and Annie willed some of the stress to leave her body as she took a couple of long breaths and rolled her shoulders. It wasn't the mission itself that had her nerves so high-strung, but the complete lack of contact with her usual handler and best friend, Auggie Anderson.

When Annie started at the DPD, her and Auggie had hit it off almost immediately. There was something about him that made her comfortable, he just 'got her'. And she understood him, she never considered that he should be treated any differently because of his handicap; and that was one of the things he loved about her. They had known each other for less then a year, but already thought of the other as their best friend. Rarely a day went by without them seeing or talking to each other.

This had been the first time that Annie had gone out into the field without Auggie in her ear and while Stu had done a fabulous job, it was still unsettling to her that Auggie hadn't even been there to see her off. She had tried to call him from the car on the way to the airport, but had gotten no response. And now, almost two days without talking to him, she was starting to worry.

She tried his number again as she climbed into the taxi, headed back to the DPD and decided that as soon as she was done being debriefed, she would go to his place and check on him.

The debriefing was thankfully rather short, although to Annie it felt like hours. She tried to keep her eyes on the mission brief in front of her, but her gaze kept wandering through those damn glass walls and landing at Auggie's empty desk chair in the Tech room. Annie did try her best to stay focused and made sure to sing praises over Stu's amazing job, but she was only relieved when the meeting finally started to wrap up.

By then, it was rather late in the evening, on a Friday night, and most of the office had already cleared out. The other people in the meeting had hurriedly grabbed their papers and headed out, eager to start their weekend and maybe hit the Tavern on the way home. Annie's immediate superior, Joan was collecting her own papers into a manilla folder as Annie tried to rush past her out of the room.

"Plans for the evening, Annie?" Joan asked non-chalantly.

"Oh. Well, I thought I might go see what Auggie is up to, I haven't been able to get a hold of him the last couple days." She made herself shrug and tried to act like it wasn't of the utmost importance for her to see him as soon as possible.

Joan looked up from her folder and smiled her approving, yet stern look towards the young agent.

"I'm glad to hear that. I would rather think he could use some company." Her tone was casual, as if she had been discussing the weather, but that didn't make Annie feel any better.

"Oh?" She asked perplexed, hoping that her boss would divulge more information.

"He usually disappears for a few days this time of the year, in fact I was hoping that by assigning you a mission, it might convince him to change his plans… but since that didn't work, I'm glad that he has a friend to talk to."

The worry that Annie had been feeling over Auggie suddenly turned into a deep sense of dread.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Annie asked, unable to hide her concern any longer.

"I'll let him explain things, but just know that this is a difficult time for him." She walked to the door and held it open for Annie, her way of indicating that the discussion was over.

"Thank you Joan." Was all she could think to say as she quickly left and drove straight to Auggie's place.

Annie pulled up and parked outside of Auggie's apartment and climbed out of her car. Looking up to his window, she wondered if he was even there, although it was hard to tell, since he normally didn't turn on any lights unless he had company. She opted to jog up the few flights of stairs, knowing she would just go crazy waiting for the elevator. Within minutes she found herself knocking at his door and getting no response.

"Auggie? It's me Annie, are you home?" She hollered through the door, not really caring about neighbors.

When the second round of knocking still failed to yield results, Annie started to dig through her purse. All the while her mind was racing through all of the things that could have happened to him.

Searching along the bottom of her bag, her fingertips found the object she had been looking for, Auggie's spare key. He had given it to her after the whole Natasha debacle, stating that it would help him "save on door lock replacements from her lock picking skills." But she had known at the time, that it was really his way of saying, "you can trust me."

She wiggled the key in the lock and slid the heavy door open. Annie peered into the dark apartment and could hear some muffled rock music coming from inside. Suddenly, she was overcome with the fear that she was walking in on Auggie entertaining a female guest. She wasn't sure where that jealous thought had come from, but quickly dismissed it, knowing that it wouldn't excuse his complete lack of response over the last couple of days.

"Auggie?" She called out again hesitantly.

Her fingers danced along the wall beside the door frame until she found the light switch to flip on before closing the door.

"Auggie?" She called again as she scanned the living room and kitchen area for any sign of him. Nothing seemed out of place, to a stranger, it might even look as though the apartment was unlived in, but Annie knew that Auggie's blindness necessitated the orderly way he kept his home.

Annie kept moving into the apartment, peering through the darkness as she moved away from the entryway light. She rounded the corner from the kitchen into the bedroom and stopped in her tracks. There was Auggie, flat on his back, laying on the floor at the foot of his bed, scattered books and various other things strewn around him.

"Oh God!" Annie yelped.

Her immediate thought was that he had been attacked by an intruder, but seeing all the items on the floor, she wondered if he had fallen. Her mind then switched to really frightening thoughts, is he okay? Is he conscious? Is he breathing? These all barely had time to flit through her mind as she raced to his side.

Not until she knelt down closer to him in the darkened room, did she vaguely recognized that he was wearing his headphones. And just as she reached to pull them off, his whole body sprang to life. He reached up and grabbed her by the shoulders, flipping her over in one swift movement and pinning her to the ground beneath him.

"Umph!" Annie let out a low moan from the wind being knocked out of her.

Straddled above her, Auggie froze. Almost visibly he sniffed the air and then slowly reached up to pull off his headphones, dropping them by his side.

"Annie?" He asked confused, his blind eyes darting around the room.

"Yeah, it's me." She managed to choke out.

He scrambled off of her and clumsily fell back to sit on the floor, leaning his back against the edge of his bed.

"Sorry." He mumbled quietly. "You startled me."

Annie pulled herself up to sit, her heart still racing from the fright she just had. The forgotten headphones lay beside them, the heavy guitar she could just barely hear before, now blaring out of them. No wonder he hadn't been able to hear her calling him.

"Auggie what happened?" She managed to ask, feeling very confused.

"You snuck up on me." He answered in another mumble.

"That's not what I mean, and you know it!" She half shouted frustrated and angry. "I've been trying to get a hold of you for two days now! I was worried sick and then I finally find you and you're just laying on the floor listening to music?"

"I've also been doing a fair amount of drinking." Auggie added. He had a slight grin and appeared to be almost amused by Annie's outburst.

"Oh, you think this is funny do you?" She growled back at him and got to her feet. She was ready to storm out, but tripped as her foot connected with one of the items on the floor. It looked to be a book and being the curious type, she reached down to pick it up.

Her eyes had started to adjust to the lack of light, but it was still hard to see. She reached over and flipped on the light switch, the corner lamp filled the room with a warm glow. She vaguely noted that Auggie had turned off the music still blaring from the forgotten headphones.

The book had a simple black faux leather cover and she could tell by the shape of the spine, that it had a 3-ring binding. All at once she knew what it was; even before she opened to the first page to see a picture of a young baby August.

"A photo album?" She wondered out loud.

She looked around and quickly identified the other items scattered on the floor. Another couple of photo albums, a year book, what looked to be some old handwritten letters, a few frames and a mostly empty bottle of tequila.

Her mind quickly put together the clues, as well as Joan's cryptic comments. The anger she had felt bubbling within her just minutes before was gone. Auggie was a relentlessly positive person and always took his blindness with stride. She was so used to his blindness being part of who he was, that she never really thought about how hard it must be for him some days.

Not knowing what to say, she looked over at Auggie who was still sitting on the ground looking defeated. His arms hung over his knees and his gaze was directed downward.

Stepping around the precious items, she knelt down beside him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"It was five years ago today." He said quietly. "Five years since my eyesight was taken from me."

"And all of this?" Annie asked softly.

"This is how I celebrate my 'anniversary'." He used his hands to gesture around the room. "I pull out this box of memorabilia and pretend like it helps me remember things." His statement ended with a short cynical snort. "Obviously, looking at photos doesn't really do me much good. Which is probably why I got frustrated and threw it all on the floor."

"Auggie, why didn't you tell me? You shouldn't be alone right now."

"Well maybe I wanted to be alone, did you consider that?" His voice was suddenly full of anger as his sightless eyes glared ahead.

Thrown off by the sudden change in demeaneor, Annie retracted her touch and sat back on her heels.

Auggie felt around on the floor beside him, finding the tequila bottle he unscrewed the lid and took a large swig, draining the bottle.

"Look Annie, I didn't ask for you to come over here." He paused as he stood up, swaying a little from the rush of blood to his head mixing with the booze in his system. "In fact, I thought I made it painfully obvious that I didn't want company."

He stumbled out of the room, leaving Annie fuming with anger. She grabbed her purse that had been tossed aside during the commotion and prepared to storm out of the apartment, granting Auggie his wish to be left alone.

...

End chapter one

* * *

A/N - Sooooo? What do you guys think? It's a little more angsty then my usual stuff, but I just couldn't resist once the idea popped into my head. I figure there will probably be only one (maybe two) more chapters and it will definitely have a happier ending.

And does anybody know how long ago in the canon timeline Auggie had his accident? I looked around on a few sites and wasn't finding anything, so I guessed that it was probably 3-4 years before he met Annie, and then adding in their first summer together, I guessed it was around 5.

Please **REVIEW**! It's literally one of my favorite things, to read reviews and see what people are liking (or not liking) about my stuff. Thanks so much for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

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Auggie stood in his kitchen, his mind was a muddled mess. He had just basically thrown a temper tantrum and stomped out of the room to avoid talking to Annie. What was he thinking pushing away the most important person in his life?

All he knew for sure, was that he didn't want her to see him like this. From the first day he had met her, she had never treated him as special or handicapped; for her he could just be Auggie Anderson, Head of Tech Ops and best friend. Instead of August Anderson, former field agent, crippled in the line of duty. And this position she had found in him today was sure to change that.

What he needed at the moment was another drink. He held up the bottle that he had carried from the other room and gave it a swirl. He could hear just a few lonely drops splashing about, indicating it was indeed empty. In his frustration, he went to slam the empty tequila bottle down on the counter top, but due to his inability to judge the distance mixed with his drunken state, he missed. Instead, he caught the edge of the counter, accidently smashing the bottle.

The glass bottle shattered into pieces within his grip and the surprise threw him off enough to lose his balance causing him to lean into the broken glass as he caught himself from taking a nose-dive into the counter. A large shard sliced into his palm at the base of his thumb.

"God damnit!" He yelled angrily.

"What was that?" Annie asked. She had one hand on his front door, ready to exit. Despite her desire to storm out, she couldn't leave him. Reluctantly, she dropped the handle and turned back to step into the kitchen.

Auggie was holding his hand over the sink and there was a good deal of blood trailing behind him to the pile of broken glass beside the counter.

"Are you OK?" She asked as she rushed to his side. When she reached him, he pulled back from her touch.

"I'm FINE!" He said sternly, in her general direction.

"No you're not! Auggie, you're bleeding everywhere. Let me help, I—"

He cut her off. "DAMNIT Annie! I can take care of myself!" He shouted even louder then before. "Just leave me alone."

Annie stilled. If she wasn't furious before, she certainly was now.

"What the hell is your problem?" She yelled back.

"MY problem? Why won't you listen to me?"

"No, YOU listen to ME!" She shouted again. For some reason, this statement seemed to catch Auggie's attention and he actually kept his mouth shut and looked in her direction, giving her his attention.

"I get that some of the cards you've been dealt in life have really sucked. And I get that you probably had to work really hard to be independent again." She started in a stern voice, but it became more gentle as she went on. "Just because you can do things on your own, doesn't mean that you have to."

Auggie opened his mouth to argue, but was cut off before he could even start.

"I'm your friend Auggie, and friend's take care of one another. That's what we do."

She paused and they both just stood there. Auggie was still standing over the sink clutching his injured hand as blood continued to drip into the sink, but his sightless eyes were amazingly locked with Annie's. And as she peered into them, she could see how lost he was.

"If you keep pushing people away, you really are going to end up all alone." Her tone was quiet now, sad even.

She turned and walked away, her heels clicking on the hard wood floors.

"Wait." Auggie called out. She stopped, only a few steps away from the front door. "Don't go." Auggie hung his head and took a deep breath. "I've been an ass and I'm sorry."

Annie slowly turned around and looked at him standing there, he had lifted his gaze back up and she looked into those gentle brown eyes of her best friend. She could tell by the emotions on his face that his apology was true. One of the many little things she had learned about her friend was that tequila always brought out the truth in him.

"Apology accepted." She said quietly. "And I'm sorry for coming over here, when you obviously wanted to be left alone, but I would do it again if I had to."

"Please Annie, there is no need to apologize to me. You are right, I push people away. I need to know when to ask for help."

He put on a convincing smile and held up his bloody hands over the sink. "Speaking of asking for help…"

"Of course, where's your first aid kit?" She asked, shaking her head at his cheesey grin.

"Bathroom. Under the sink."

Annie collected the first aid supplies and returned to the kitchen. On the way, she stopped to shrug out of her suit jacket, laying it across a counter stool, not wanting to get blood or iodine on it. Clad in her tank top and slacks, she took the supplies over to the sink and pulled out the items she would need.

Gently, she laid a hand on Auggie's wrist, letting him know where she was. He had been cradling the injured appendage, but at her soft touch he let her take it.

"Ooh." She made a sound indicating that it must not look very good.

"You did a mighty fine job slicing yourself up here, Mr. Anderson." She teased, wanting to lighten the mood.

"Why thank you, Ms. Walker for your keen observation." He smiled.

Silently, Annie began to clean out the wound, starting with tweezers to get the glass out. Auggie stood very still and seemed to be watching her every move, although she knew otherwise. He flinched as she tugged on a piece that was being particularly difficult.

"Were you really so mad that you had to smash a bottle?" She asked quietly.

"I didn't mean to smash it, I was merely placing it on the counter… in an angry fashion."

Annie made a sound of disbelief.

Auggie just shrugged his shoulders. "Seemed like a good idea at the time."

She just shook her head and pulled out the last chip of glass. Looking over at Auggie, she asked, "Did you really drink this whole bottle tonight?"

"Nah… I drank at least half of it this morning." A little smirk played on his lips.

"It amazes me that you are still walking around." She finished cleaning the wound and taped some gauze in place, patting his hand to let him know she was done. "If it were me, I would be a pile on the floor right now."

"It's hard to go through Special Forces training and not learn how to drink, but seriously, need I remind you where you found me?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

She recollected how her heart as almost stopped, seeing his still body laying on the floor in the dark. "What exactly were you doing?"

Auggie shrugged and flexed his hand, testing out how much the bandage would hinder him. "I dunno. Mostly feeling sorry for myself." He was quiet for a few moments and before he continued. "You know when most people go through a traumatic event, they still have their memories to go back and remember the time "before" it all happened. But I pull out those photo albums and realize as I run my fingers over the smooth surfaces, not being able to distinguish anything, that I've lost those memories too." He was surprisingly clear for all he had drank, and Annie knew this was not the first time he had thought about this.

"You haven't lost these memories, you just need a little help jogging the ones up here." She leaned forward, up on her tip-toes and tapped the side of his head.

Auggie cocked his head and his eyebrows squeezed together wondering what Annie could mean.

She reached out, taking his hand, pulling him to follow. He noted that they went past his bedroom, and she grabbed one of the items off the floor before leading him over to the couch.

He listened as she flipped through the unmistakable sound of the old sticky pages of the photo album his mother had put together so many years ago.

"Let's see… this picture is dated '88 and it looks like a scrawny you and a young brunette with pigtails. Looks like you are at a park with a crazy red slide behind you."

Auggie smiled as the image of the photo and the actual event was brought forth in his mind's eye.

Annie described the next photo. "And here's another from that same day, the two of you are on swings. Oh wait, this one has a caption." Annie paused to make out the faded ink. "It says… Auggie and sister." She stopped and looked over at him incredulously. "I didn't know you had a sister? I've only ever heard you talk about your brothers."

"That's Cassie. She's technically my cousin, but she came to live with us that summer, so I started calling her 'sister'. I think this was the day that we had driven out to visit a friend of my mother's and on the way back home we stumbled across this great park."

Auggie's heart warmed at the memory of this beloved childhood friend, and sharing it again with Annie seemed to make it all the more special.

"Thank you Annie, this is great." He reached over to touch her arm affectionately.

"Of course, that's what friends are for." She smiled and he could hear it in her voice. "Now, tell me, how do I tell your brothers apart?"

* * *

They went on like this for a couple of hours. Annie describing the scene and reading the limited captions, and Auggie filling in the blanks and elaborating on the stories.

Once they had made it through a couple albums, they took a break and Annie swept up the forgotten glass off the floor while Auggie heated up some leftovers.

They took their food, (and water, at Annie's insistence) and settled back into the couch. Both eating in a comfortable silence.

"So, if I had a photo of you, how would you describe it to me?" Auggie asked as he placed his cleaned plate on the coffee table and took a swing of water.

"What do you mean?" She asked, taking the last bite off her own plate.

"Come on, humor me. When I ask the other tech guys what you look like, most answers basically consist of 'hot and blonde'. Which I'm sure is more then accurate, but it doesn't really give me much to use when I try to picture you.

Here, do you have a photo of yourself, maybe on your phone or something?"

Annie shook her head thinking about how the tech team viewed her, but reluctantly pulled her phone out of her pocket and flipped through to her favorite one.

"Ok I found one."

"Perfect, now pretend like this was any other photo in this album and tell me what you see." Auggie smiled, silently encouraging her to continue.

"Okay… well there's a young woman, a little on the petite side. And by petite, I mean short, but she's fit, she probably has to keep in shape for work." She said the last part matter of factly, and Auggie knew she was referencing the many times they had sparred or just enjoyed each other's company in the CIA fitness facility.

"She's wearing a charcoal suit with a bright blue dress shirt, very stylish by the way." Auggie chuckled. "She has dark blonde hair that hangs just past her shoulders, it's naturally wavy, but she's wearing it straight. Her eyes are a hazel-brown and she has a warm smile. She looks really happy."

"She sounds like a beautiful, confident woman." Auggie said, without a hint of teasing in his voice. He was well aware of her beauty and he didn't need her description or anyone else's to know it.

"The woman is with a rather handsome young man." Auggie was surprised when Annie continued on, not really expecting her to describe the rest of the image, especially if it consisted of another man.

"Also well dressed, he has on dark jeans with a shirt and tie and a nice fitting sweater over the top. He wears his hair a little long and it curls up at the ends, sticking out from behind his ears and hanging in his eyes. And he's wearing sunglasses, which is too bad because you can't see his warm chocolate brown eyes."

For a second Auggie thought he might actually know what picture Annie was talking about, but it couldn't be, could it?

"What about the background? Where are they?" He asked, hoping he already knew the answer.

"It appears to be a beautiful sunny day in D.C., you can see the Washington Monument behind them."

Now Auggie knew exactly which photo it was. The one Annie had convinced an unaware Medical Examiner to take of them, before successfully lifting the M.E.'s fingerprint off the phone.

"I can't believe you still have that picture? You've gone through like a million phones since then." He teased.

"Well it's my favorite one, so I always make sure to load it on to the new one."

"How could that possibly be your favorite?" He asked in disbelief.

"It was my first day on the job… and also… the day I met you." She spoke softly, feeling a little vulnerable after her confession. "I knew that day that I had made a lifelong friend."

He smiled and nodded. He knew exactly how she felt and it warmed his heart to hear her say it.

They both sat there, still on the couch and Auggie wondered how they had ended up so close to each other. But he realized that having her right beside him made him incredibly happy. And he wasn't sure if it was courage left over from the little bit of booze still in his system, or the confidence he gained from hearing this tale of how important he was to her, but suddenly he knew that he was ready to take a risk.

"What would you say to being more then friends?" His tone was serious and he turned to look at her, hoping that he was meeting her eyes.

Annie froze at the statement, caught a little off guard by his sudden change in demeanor.

Gone was the playful banter and casual chatting, the conversation had quickly become serious and Annie didn't quite know what to say.

She met his gaze and looked into his eyes. In them, she saw the same feelings that she has just started to realize in herself.

Her lips were parted, but no sound would come out. What did she want to say? Part of her wanted to show him how she felt, but the other part of her was so afraid of what she could lose.

"Um Annie?" Auggie interrupted her thoughts. "Can I get some kind of verbal response here? I don't have the luxury of getting to judge your reaction by the look on your face."

"Sorry. You caught me by surprise." She finally said, laying a gentle hand on his leg, letting him know she was still there.

"Really? Surprise?"

"A good surprise." She offered.

"Well I can be full of surprises." He said with a cocky grin on his face. And before Annie could see it coming, he reached up, placed a hand on her cheek and guided his lips to hers.

The kiss was passionate yet surprisingly tender. Annie's heart beat rapidly and she felt herself flush at the wonderful sensations.

Auggie smiled into her lips before he deepened the kiss. His other hand wrapped around her lower back to pull her closer. Her tank top had ridden up a little and she shivered when the exposed skin on her hip felt the coarse tape of his bandaged hand glide over it.

The sensation brought Annie's lust addled mind back to reality and suddenly she remembered how she had ended up here.

Her movements ceased and she placed her hands on the front of Auggie's shoulders to gently push him back and end the kiss.

"Annie?" He questioned, his breathing as ragged as hers.

"Auggie, I can't do this." She all but whispered, watching his eyes as the realization of her words hit him.

"Oh." He sat back and slumped into the cushions of the couch beside her. "Annie I'm sorry, I thought—" He paused but couldn't find the words. "I thought wrong."

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

"Auggie, it's not that. I just—" She stopped, not really remembering her reasons when she saw the crestfallen look on his face.

"It's just… Auggie, you've had a lot to drink today. And well, you're my best friend, I don't want to mess that up."

"Annie." He sat back up straight and turned to face her. He patted around on the couch searching and she reached out to meet his hand. "If you think this is some drunken whim, you're wrong. I've been thinking a lot about this Annie. And I've been thinking a lot about you… in a more then friendly way."

"You know how I get with tequila, a couple drinks in and I'm spilling my guts." He smiled and he could hear her quiet chuckle of agreement.

"That is true." She said. "But you are too important to me to risk ruining what we have over a casual fling. If we're going to do this Auggie, I need to be sure. I can't risk all this over a couple of dates."

"Annie." His tone got serious again. "This day hits me every year and I get caught up in all that I've lost and sometimes I even wonder how I go on." She squeezed his hand at this statement, but stayed silent, allowing him to finish. "But this year, I just kept thinking about all I had gained since that day and most important was you."

"I'm sorry that I let you go into the field without me. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to keep my head in the game and it would risk your life. But while you were gone, all I could do was worry about you. Hell, I finally got out the box of mementoes just to get my mind off of you.

I avoided you when you checked in on me because, I thought I didn't want you to see me like this, I was afraid you would realize that I wasn't good enough for you. But then I realized that if you can see me like this, at my lowest low and still accept me as your friend, then maybe that's what makes us so perfect."

"Auggie I would never think that you aren't good enough. That's not it at all—" She interrupted, but was cut off.

"Let me finish." He smiled and she obeyed.

"Annie, I know you've had a rough past when it comes to relationships and I know you have a hard time putting your trust in people. But if I can promise you one thing, it's that I'll be by your side, as your friend or whatever else might become of us, for as long as you'll have me."

He finished his little speech and sat there silently, wishing that he could look into her eyes and know her response.

Annie watched him looking a little nervous and took his hand, still in hers, and brought it up to her lips, laying his fingertips on the soft skin, so he could feel her reaction.

"I'm smiling." She said, before gently kissing them and then pulling his hand back into hers.

"Well, that's a good sign." He smiled back.

"I guess you don't really leave a lot of room for debate with such a well thought out argument." She said.

"I was kinda hoping you would say that." He smiled back.

"Tell you what. It's really late, let's meet up tomorrow for lunch after we've both had some time to think and a night to sleep on it. If you still want to try this tomorrow, I certainly wouldn't turn you down." She stood up from the couch and pulled his hand helping him up as well.

A gigantic grin spread across Auggie's face. Annie was giving him a way out if he wanted it, a chance to panic and wonder 'what was I thinking'. If this helped her feel more secure about his answer, then it was fine by him.

"Ok Annie, but I hope you know that I'm not going to change my mind."

"I'm sure hoping that you don't." She pulled him into a quick hug and placed a timid kiss at the corner of his mouth.

"Good night Auggie, I look forward to tomorrow." She said as she collected her things.

"Good night Annie. I do as well." He followed her to the door, but grabbed her hand before she could walk out.

She turned to look back at him, curious.

"Thank you Annie, for being there for me today, and for giving me a better thing to remember on this date." His words were confident and sincere.

"That's what friends are for Auggie. And no matter what happens, I'll always be your friend." She squeezed his hand and walked out of the front door.

Auggie listened until she got to the stair well before sliding the door shut, smiling to himself.

It had turned out to be a pretty decent anniversary after all.

The end

* * *

A/N - So I considered a very short epilog that I may or may not upload at another time, but I didn't have it ready, and I didn't want to delay this chapter any longer. You'll have to let me know if you think it even needs one.

**Please** **review** and tell me if you liked it! Was it too sappy at the end, too much of a change from the angsty beginning? Did they seem in-character? Did it all make sense? I get so used to something after spending so much time imagining how it will play out, I often wonder if it loses a little in translation to paper.

I can't freaking wait for this show to start back up! There has even started to be a lag in story postings, I think we all need some new material to work with!

Thanks for taking the time to read! And thanks for all the people that took the time to review chapter 1, I appreciate it!


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